The present invention relates to a front structure of a vehicle in which a bumper face is provided at a front portion of the vehicle and headlamp units are provided at both side portions of the bumper face.
Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-6238, in the impact absorption structure of the vehicle-body front portion in which the radiator grill is attached to the front bulkhead and the bumper beam is provided below the radiator grill, the stay is provided to extend between the bulkhead beam constituting the upper portion of the front bulkhead and the bumper beam, the impact absorption member is attached to the stay, the shaft member is attached to the back face of the radiator grill, and the shaft member and the impact absorption member are coupled via a ball-face journal. Thus, the structure which can efficiently absorb the impact which an object may receive from the load directed to the swing shaft of the radiator grill or the load acting in a specified direction which slants relative to the vehicle longitudinal direction is known.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-207061 discloses the headlamp attachment structure in which the engagement groove portion to support the outer lens by engaging with the upper-side tip of the outer lens and the vehicle-body attachment portion provided to extend downward from the engagement groove portion and fixed to the radiator core support upper are provided at the headlamp housing, and the impact absorption portion having a rearward open section is formed over a specified range from the engagement groove portion of the headlamp housing to the vehicle-body attachment portion, which can properly absorb the impact which an object may receive from the force which is inputted obliquely from the front side to the outer lens of the headlamp unit.
According to the impact absorption structure of the vehicle-body front portion disclosed in the above-described first patent document, since the input load which acts when an object hits against the side portion of the vehicle body is absorbed by the single impact absorption member provided behind the bumper face at the central position in the vehicle width direction, it may be difficult to absorb the input load sufficiently. Thus, there remains room for improvement. In particular, in case the front face side portion of the vehicle body is formed in a streamlined shape by forming both side portions of the bumper face with a specified curvature from a proper vehicle-body design aspect, the absorption function of the input load through a swing move of the radiator grill around the above-described ball-face journal according to the input load caused by the hitting of the side portions of the bumper face with the object may not be achieved sufficiently. Thus, the impact which the object may receive may not be effectively absorbed.
Further, in case both side portions of the vehicle body are curved with the specified curvature as described above, the lower stiffener to make the object hitting against the front face of the vehicle body jump onto an engine hood may not be designed to project forward greatly at its both side portions. Also, since it is difficult that the thickness of the impact absorption member to prevent the large impact load from being inputted to the above-described object may not be ensured sufficiently at both side portions of the front portion of the vehicle body. Thus, it has been demanded that the impact which the object may receive can be absorbed particularly effectively.
Meanwhile, since the impact absorption portion is formed by the engagement groove portion and the like provided at the headlamp housing according to the invention disclosed in the above-described second patent document, the object can be protected when hitting against the arrangement portion of the headlamp housing. However, there is a problem in that in case the object hits against the side portion of the bumper face located on the inside of the headlamp housing or the like, the object may not be effectively protected by the above-described impact absorption portion.